Norm van brocklin biography of rory

  • Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years – and spent the rest of his life talking about it.
  • What Coaching My Son Taught Me: After decades reporting on soccer, three months helping to coach a team of children under age 7 came as a revelation to Rory.
  • Van Brocklin had two ways to dissect defenses: with his arm and his mind.

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    So long, Art Donovan

    "You know you're big when you sit in the bathtub and the water in the toilet rises." – NFL Hall of Famer Art Donovan.

    Art Donovan was a professional football player of my father's generation, not of mine.

    Nevertheless, as a product of Baltimore – and a fan of the real Colts – I grew up not only hearing great stories of NFL players like Art Donovan, Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti, Alan Ameche and others, but also reading about them. Especially Unitas and Donovan.

    While I once shared a rub of my Levi Garrett chewing tobacco with Marcus Allen prior to a Raiders/Bengals game, I'd rather have my dad's stories of draft beers with Art Donovan.

    This week, one of my more "notorious" email pals – the one and only Doc Terrell – sent a link to an old Johnny Carson late-night television episode of "The Tonight Show," during which Hall-of-Famer Art Donovan regaled Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon with his NFL stories.

    You can look up this

  • norm van brocklin biography of rory

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    Originally published by the Professional Football Researchers Association in ‘The Coffin Corner,’ Volume 36, Number 5,  September/October 2014.

    LOOKING BACK
    By John Turney

    As with many players on the NFL stage, Roman Gabrielhad a career that unfolded in distinct parts. Sometimes an injury, such as with Gale Sayers, marks a divide. Other times it’s a trade that causes a separation. Sonny Jurgensenfirst sat behind Norm Van Brocklin, then had his prime years, and finally split time with Billy Kilmerwith the Redskins from 1971 to 1974.
    Gabriel, who had a short career as an actor after football, had his early years as an understudy from 1962 to 1965, when he learned his position and played only part-time; his prime years in the spotlight as an NFL starter, from 1966 through 1975; then two years as a backup with the Eagles. Here then are the three acts of Roman Gabriel’s career on football’s biggest stage

    ACT I: The Curtain Raiser

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    It’s About Time

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Butch Buchanico spent 31 years as a Philadelphia cop. No more needs to be said about his toughness.

    Yet standing in Alltel etapp this week, Buchanico, now security director for the Philadelphia Eagles, had to push tears back from his eyes, bite his lip and compose han själv before he could talk about what a Super Bowl victory would mean to his city.

    “I have been through championships with all of them, the Phillies, the Flyers and the Sixers,” he said, “A championship for the Eagles would encompass everybody. They are a way of life in Philadelphia. It would mean so much.”

    Radio talk show host Bill Werndl, raised in Philadelphia, said, “For Philly, winning the Super Bowl would be like it was for the U.S. the day we put a man on the moon.”

    Said Harry Donahue, a Philadelphia sports announcer: “If the Eagles win, they will have to shut down the town for a week.”

    It has been more than 21 years since Philadelphia last celebrated a champi